Responding to Suicide: The Importance of Postvention

Caring for Those Affected by Suicide

While postvention is a term you might not have previously heard in any conversations about suicide, it is a critical topic to address. Postvention refers to interventions conducted after a suicide death.

Norton and Clouqueur explain how postvention efforts support those who have been affected by suicide, including loved ones, colleagues, and the community at large.

Watch now to learn more about:

• What postvention is and how it has evolved
• How postvention helps individuals and communities heal
• Where to find postvention resources

It is only in the past 25 years that suicide postvention has been considered part of the strategy to protect individuals and communities after suicide loss.

According to Clouqueur, the ultimate aim of postvention is to support those who are bereaved.

“How do we [protect] people from risk to themselves—of mental health crises or of being at risk for suicide themselves?” she says. “[Postvention] is really for the ongoing health of those of us who are dealing with the loss of a loved one.”

Such a loss can extend from family members closest to the person who died, to coworkers and classmates, to clinicians, and to others who learn about the tragic loss of life.

Norton uses the analogy of “the pebble in the pond” to illustrate this concept.

“When you think about that pebble in the pond, that first wave is the biggest wave, and it will [ripple out] from that spot,” Norton says. “Typically, when we think about postvention, it’s the family, it’s the immediate friends that are most directly impacted by that first wave.”

He adds that there are subsequent waves that ripple out from the spot, which impact other people, as well.

“I think that’s part of how the field [of postvention] has evolved, to look at the broader impact—not just on the immediate family, but on providers, on community members, on schools, businesses.”

According to Norton and Clouqueur, the goals of postvention involve reducing risk and promoting healing.

For example, media can follow responsible best practices for reporting on suicide, which include avoiding the use of details about the manner of death.

Schools can have a plan in place on how to support students and staff in the event of death by suicide, so administrators and teachers do not have to organize at a highly emotional time.

Language is important. People should avoid saying “committed” suicide, or “completed” suicide. However, Norton points out that it’s important to use the word “suicide.”

“One of the challenges is that we don’t use the word suicide, and a lot of times we don’t acknowledge that death is a suicide death, or the family doesn’t want to acknowledge that it’s a suicide death,” he says.

“It’s very rare that you see in an obituary that suicide is listed as the cause of death, although, occasionally, now we will see that,” he says. “Suicide death comes with a whole complex array of stigma, or sometimes shame, blame and other things related to how we, as a society, react to it.”

Both Norton and Clouqueur are optimistic that the stigma around suicide death is decreasing.

“In acknowledging a death by suicide, we think about that person with compassion,” Clouqueur says.

“For those of us who are alive and coping with a death by suicide, we communicate that we can do hard things. In doing that, we who live carry the sense of meaning and purpose, that we can support each other, that we find can—while attending to our grief—fuel our connection to one another and care for one another.”

Audience Questions

• Has the concept of postvention evolved significantly in recent years?
• Can you speak to the importance of postvention?
• A suicide death is sometimes described as a “pebble in a pond”? Can you explain?
• What do we know about the size of the population impacted by suicide?
• It seems that communities are often unprepared to navigate the challenges that can arise in the wake of a suicide. Would you agree that that’s the case? And if so, why?
• Any suggestions for the best language to use when creating community awareness of suicide and suicide prevention?
• Who is most at risk of being impacted, and most in need of support, following an unexpected loss?
• What should we know about the phenomenon known as contagion?
• What has been your experience over the years dealing with the media on the topic of suicide?
• What language should we all be using—and avoiding—when we talk about suicide?
• How might family members and loved ones grieve differently? And how can families navigate any friction caused by those differences?
• What does it take to get a community to buy into the importance of postvention? And how do you go about making that happen?
• How can clinicians help people who are blaming themselves following a suicide?
• What might a company do to help support its workforce when those employees have been impacted by a suicide?
• What should we know about postvention planning for a school environment?
• Do you have any suggestions for communicating a death by suicide of a young person to friends and peer groups or schoolmates?
• What guidance do you have for clinicians when it comes to losing a patient to suicide and the impact that can have on them as health care providers?
• Can you speak to some of the hope provided by evolving postvention and suicide prevention initiatives?

The information discussed is intended to be educational and should not be used as a substitute for guidance provided by your health care provider. Please consult with your treatment team before making any changes to your care plan.

Resources

You may also find this information useful:

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention
• Center for Prolonged Grief – Columbia University
• Coalition of Clinician Survivors
• Provide for Immediate and Long-Term Postvention – Suicide Prevention Resource Center
• Reporting on Suicide
• Video: Managing Grief and Loss
• Video: Suicide Prevention – Learning From Someone Affected by Suicide
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Your Toolbox for Managing Emotions
• Suicide: Know the Signs and What To Do
• Access the full Heroes for Hope: Suicide Prevention course
• McLean’s suicide prevention resource hub

About Marie Clouqueur, LICSW

Marie Clouqueur, LICSW, is a clinical social worker specializing in older adults and family work. She founded and leads the dementia support program in McLean’s Division of Geriatric Psychiatry. Her clinical work provides group and individual psychotherapy to improve caregiver resilience and to support people living with dementia.

About Kenneth Norton, LICSW

Kenneth Norton, LICSW, is a licensed independent clinical social worker with over 40 years of experience in the mental health field. He led the development of NAMI New Hampshire’s Connect Suicide Prevention Program and has been appointed to numerous committees, commissions, and work groups at the local, state, and national levels.